Twenty years after the death of the Prophet, Islam swept into Central Asia. It stayed there, influencing and being influenced by the constant attrition between nomads and sedentary peoples. Stagnancy of any sort was impossible in Central Asia: it was always at the center of some ferment or other. And so the Islamic sect that flourished was the most liberal and accommodating: the Sunni Hanafi sect. The liberalism of the Hanafi sect meant that the family law of the region was plastic and variegated. The plasticity of the whole meant a durable central core. Its durability was tested sorely.

Some…